The latest on the STLR radar: The British Parliament has approved a law authorizing temporary suspension of internet access for those accused of repeated copyright infringement, reports the New York Times. Opponents of the law, such as the Open Rights Group, promise to turn this into an election issue in Great Britain. Canadian company Wi-Lan has filed suit in the Eastern District of Texas against 19 high-tech companies—including heavyweights Apple, Dell, Motorola, Acer, and others—for Continue Reading →

The latest on the STLR radar: The Southern District of New York‘s decision in Association for Molecular Pathology and ACLU v. USPTO and Myriad (the “gene patents case”) handed down last Monday, has generated a lot of commentary this week. Here’s a selection: reports from Wired and On the Edges of Science and Law; IP Watchdog describes the ruling as “inane”; Patent Docs gives more detail on the patents at issue; Patently O thinks the Federal Continue Reading →

The latest on the STLR radar: The working text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been released. See Wired and The Register coverage of the story, and our post on the draft treaty here. The Federal Circuit rules on patent dispute Applera Corp v. Illumina, Inc. on the basis of Californian employment law, writes Patent Docs. Holman’s Biotech IP Blog discusses the patent law implications of the Federal Circuit’s ruling in Ariad v. Eli Lilly. Less Continue Reading →

The latest on the STLR radar: The Department of State’s annual Human Rights Report turns the spotlight on internet freedom in China and Iran, from ZDNet Government. The US District Court in Delaware stays the patent litigations between Apple and Nokia, pending decisions by the International Trade Commission, says The Register. A California appeals court rules that cyberbullying threats are not protected free speech, reports Wired. Also from Wired, the Supreme Court agrees to review Continue Reading →

The latest on the STLR radar: The New York Times explains that television providers, including TimeWarner and Verizon, are petitioning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change TV retransmission rules so that stations (like ABC or CBS) have less leverage over TV providers. The FCC is also asking people to test their broadband speeds at its website, Wired reports, to evaluate whether American telecommunications companies are keeping their promises about broadband speed and accessibility. Business Continue Reading →

The latest on the STLR radar: Out-Law reports on a US District Court for the Northern District of California case that clarifies how damages for groundless claims of copyright infringement should be determined. Apple is suing HTC over infringement of its user interface patents, but it’s really Google it’s after, says IP Watchdog. RealNetworks drops its appeal against a ruling declaring that its DVD-copying software violated the DMCA – Wired reports. Is it the car Continue Reading →

A federal appeals court held that federal agents need not get warrants to search files shared over peer-to-peer networks, reports Wired. The Pentagon will now allow troops access to online social media like Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace, Business Weekly reports. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given Google a license to trade energy on the wholesale market, as The Register reports. Notifications of website privacy policies do not appear to actually protect online privacy, the Continue Reading →

Congratulations to Professor Andrew B. Dzeguze (and to us)! Last year, we published his article, The Devil in the Details: A Critique of KSR’s Unwarranted Reinterpretation of “Person Having Ordinary Skill”. It has since been selected for inclusion in the Patent Law Review, an annual anthology published by West, as one of the best patent articles published in the last year. Congratulations Professor Dzeguze! Scridb filter

The latest on the STLR radar: As it launches its cloud computing platform, Azure, Microsoft calls for federal regulation to clarify many of the open legal questions surrounding cloud computing, says the MTTLR Blog. Ten years after it applies, TiVo is granted patent for season pass subscriptions, writes Gizmodo (see our recent post on TiVo’s patent battle with Microsoft here). INFO/LAW recommends a Paul Ohm paper arguing that statistical techniques are eroding the effectiveness of Continue Reading →

The latest on the STLR radar: Wired reports on Max Ray Vision’s thirteen-year sentence for hacking – the longest yet in U.S. legal history. The District Court for the Western District of Washington dismisses a lawsuit alleging that Microsoft misled its customers by representing anti-piracy code as a critical security update. ComputerWorld reports. The E-Commerce Times looks into codec licensing issues and what it means for the development of the next generation of HTML. The Register Continue Reading →